PROTECTIVE CASE HAVING ELASTICALLY DEFORMABLE AIR CHAMBERS FOR IMPACT REDUCTION
The present invention is to provide a. protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction, which is made of an elastically deformable material and includes at least four lateral walls and at least four outer curved walls each connecting adjacent lateral wails, such that the outer curved wails and the lateral walls jointly form and enclose a receiving space. When a portable electronic device is received in the receiving space, the inner sides of the lateral walls lie against the four lateral sides of the periphery of the portable electronic device respectively. Meanwhile, the outer curved walls correspond in position to the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively, but the inner sides of the outer curved walls are not in contact with the portable electronic device, so as to form the air chambers between the outer curved walls and the portable electronic device respectively.
The present invention relates to a protective case applicable to a portable electronic device, more particularly to a protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction, which includes at least four outer curved walls corresponding in position to the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively, but the inner sides of the outer curved walls are not in contact with the portable electronic device, so as to form the air chambers between the outer curved walls and the portable electronic device respectively for substantially protecting the portable electronic device from damage by the impact of an external force.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONRecently, thanks to the rapid advancement of microcomputer and materials technologies, portable electronic devices have been made progressively smaller and lighter. Therefore, more and more people have changed their reading habits and begun to use e-book readers in place of the traditional paper-based books as the main information reading media. Similarly, digital photo frames are gradually replacing the traditional ones. Also, with the development of mobile broadband networking technology, sonic other portable electronic devices have gained increasing importance in people's daily lives. For example, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, and tablet PCs have, for some, been indispensable tools for work, socializing, and learning.
Due to their powerful functions and wide application, the aforementioned portable electronic devices are used more and more frequently. To prevent such portable electronic devices from damage, various protective elements were developed, some common commercially available examples of which are laptop/mobile phone skins, protective cases, adhesive protective films, and protective covers. These protective elements serve mainly to protect portable electronic devices from scratches resulting from contact with a pointed object or from friction. When it comes to the impact of an external force, however, the aforesaid protective elements provide little protection, in other words, the conventional protective elements for use with portable electronic devices are configured only for keeping a portable electronic device from superficial damage but not for providing sufficient resistance to collision which may cause substantial damage. Obviously, the protection provided by a conventional protective element to a portable electronic device leaves much to be desired.
Now that existing protective elements designed specifically for portable electronic devices fail to provide complete protection, the issue to be addressed by the present invention is to design a protective case capable of mitigating external impact. This protective case should be able to reduce the impact to which a portable electronic device enclosed in the protective case is subjected, thereby preventing the portable electronic device from damage by collision.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the fact that the conventional protective elements for use with portable electronic devices have such shortcomings in design that they fail to provide comprehensive protection for the portable electronic devices to be protected, the inventor of the present invention conducted extensive research and experiment, made numerous adjustments based on his ample experience in the related industry, and finally succeeded in developing a protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction as disclosed herein. The disclosed protective case can provide significantly enhanced protection for a portable electronic device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction. The protective case is applicable to a portable electronic device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet PC, or an e-book reader) and is made of an elastically deformable material. The protective case at least includes four lateral walls and four outer curved walls. Each outer curved wall connects two adjacent lateral walls such that the outer curved walls and the lateral walls jointly form and enclose a receiving space. When the portable electronic device is received in the receiving space, the inner sides of the lateral walls lie against the four lateral sides of the periphery of the portable electronic device respectively. Meanwhile, the outer curved walls correspond in position to the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively, but the inner sides of the outer curved walls are not in contact with the portable electronic device. In addition, a first spacing defined between a tangent line tangent to the outer edges of two adjacent outer curved walls and the portable electronic device is greater than a second spacing defined between an extension line extending along the outer side of any of the lateral walls and the portable electronic device. Thus, once the portable electronic device is enclosed in the protective case, and any of the four corners of the protective case is impacted by an external force, the corresponding outer curved wall will be elastically deformed by the external force. The elastic deformation can substantially reduce the impact of the external force, protecting the portable electronic device from damage by the impact of the external force.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction, wherein the protective case is applicable to a portable electronic device, is made of an elastically deformable material, and at least includes four outer curved walls, four inner curved walls, and four lateral walls. The periphery of each outer curved wall is sealingly connected to the periphery of a corresponding one of the inner curved walls such that each pair of the sealingly connected outer and inner curved walls jointly form a closed air cell. The closed air cells are connected by the lateral walls such that the closed air cells and the lateral walls jointly form and enclose a receiving space. When the portable electronic device is received in the receiving space, the inner sides of the lateral walls lie against the four lateral sides of the periphery of the portable electronic device respectively, and the closed air cells correspond in position to the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively. Thus, once the portable electronic device is enclosed in the protective case, and any corner of the protective case is impacted by an external force, the outer curved wall corresponding to the corner will be elastically deformed by the external force to reduce the impact of the external force. Not only that, the closed air cell jointly formed by the corresponding outer and inner curved walls can increase impact resistance effectively, thereby providing enhanced anti-collision protection for the portable electronic device.
The structure as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects, and advantages of the present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention discloses a protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction. Please refer to
The protective case of the present invention is generally in the form of a rectangle but has rounded corners. The outer curved walls 12, which are respectively located at the four corners of the protective case 1, are smoothly curved and protrude slightly outward. However, the configuration of the outer curved walls 12 is not limited to the foregoing. In practice, a manufacturer may freely change the shape of the outer curved walls 12 as needed. For example, the outer curved walls 12 may be designed as outwardly projecting, pointed hollow corners, or even in the shape of an animal, a plant, a mushroom, or a cartoon character. All changes or modifications which are based on the features disclosed herein and are readily conceivable by a person skilled in the art should not be seen as departing from the scope of the present invention. The drawings attached to the present specification should not be viewed as restrictive of the scope of the present invention, either.
Reference is now made to
Each closed air cell 22 connects two adjacent lateral walls 21 such that the lateral walls 21 and the closed air cells 22 jointly form and enclose a receiving space 23. When the portable electronic device is received in the receiving space 23, the inner sides of the lateral walls 21 lie against the four lateral sides of the periphery of the portable electronic device respectively, and the closed air cells 22 correspond in position to the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively. Thus, once the portable electronic device is enclosed in the protective case 2, and any of the corners of the protective case 2 is impacted by an external force, the outer curved wall 221 corresponding to the corner will be elastically deformed by the external force to reduce the impact of the external force. Furthermore, the closed air cell 22 jointly formed by the corresponding outer curved wall 221 and inner curved wall 222 increases impact resistance effectively and provides the portable electronic device with enhanced protection against collision.
In summary, referring again to
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A protective case having elastically deformable air chambers for impact reduction, the protective case being applicable to a portable electronic device and made of an elastically deformable material, the protective case comprising:
- four lateral walls; and
- four outer curved walls each connecting two adjacent said lateral walls such that the lateral walls and the outer curved walls jointly form and enclose a receiving space, wherein when the portable electronic device is received in the receiving space, inner sides of the lateral walls lie against four lateral sides of a periphery of the portable electronic device respectively, the outer curved walls correspond in position to four corners of the portable electronic device respectively, with inner sides of the outer curved walls not being in contact with the portable electronic device such that a buffer gap is formed between each said outer curved wall and the portable electronic device, and a first spacing defined between a tangent line tangent to two adjacent said outer curved walls and the portable electronic device is greater than a second spacing defined between an extension line extending along an outer side of any said lateral wall and the portable electronic device.
2. The protective case of claim 1, further comprising four inner curved walls, each said inner curved wall having two ends respectively and sealingly connected to inner sides of two ends of a corresponding said outer curved wall that are respectively connected to two adjacent said lateral walls, such that a said buffer gap is formed between each said inner curved wall and the corresponding outer curved wall.
3. The protective case of claim 2, wherein a periphery of each said inner curved wall is sealingly connected to a periphery of the corresponding outer curved wall such that each said inner curved wall and the outer curved wall sealingly connected thereto jointly form a closed air cell.
4. The protective case of claim 2, wherein when the portable electronic device is received in the receiving space, inner sides of the inner curved walls lie against the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively.
5. The protective case of claim 3, wherein when the portable electronic device is received in the receiving space, inner sides of the inner curved walls lie against the four corners of the portable electronic device respectively.
6. The protective case of claim 4, wherein rear sides of the lateral walls and rear sides of the outer curved walls are sealingly connected together such that a rear side of the protective case forms a rear wall, and wherein the protective case has a front side formed as an opening in communication with the receiving space.
7. The protective case of claim 5, wherein rear sides of the lateral walls and rear sides of the outer curved walls are sealingly connected together such that a rear side of the protective case forms a rear wall, and wherein the protective case has a front side formed as an opening in communication with the receiving space.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 15, 2013
Publication Date: Aug 7, 2014
Patent Grant number: 8950582
Inventor: Ke-Chang CHANG (Zhonghe Dist., New Taipei City,)
Application Number: 13/832,724
International Classification: B65D 81/02 (20060101);